Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor plans Roaring 20s anniversary gala

Lincoln Highway enthusiasts can celebrate the country’s first coast-to-coast highway — and those who promote it — during a Roaring 20s Anniversary Celebration from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 20 at Latrobe Country Club.

Hosted by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, the night will include cocktails, buffet dinner, music by Deja Vu, silent and live auctions, 50/50 drawing and cash bar.

The celebration is a belated 25th anniversary celebration for the nonprofit LHHC, designated in 1995 as a Pennsylvania Heritage Area by then-Gov. Tom Ridge.

The organization promotes the legacy of the 200-mile Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania.

The Roaring 20s Celebration was originally scheduled for May 2020, with the pandemic putting anniversary plans on hold for more than two years.

“Twenty-five years is such a landmark that we didn’t want to skimp on the celebration,” said LHHC executive director Lauren Koker. “As a result, we made the theme of the party ‘Roaring 20s’ instead of a 25th anniversary celebration, since we’re now 27 years from our founding date.”

Now designated Route 30, the Lincoln Highway was started in 1913 by a group of mostly automobile business owners and entrepreneurs at a time when road maintenance was left to local governments. Promoters sought to educate the public on the importance of good roads and to encourage leisure travel across the country by automobile — a relatively new but increasingly affordable mode of transportion.

“It’s quite fitting to have this event at Latrobe Country Club, because it is so tied to the heyday of the Lincoln Highway,” Koker said. “Latrobe Country Club, founded in 1920, is on the historic Lincoln Highway.

“Many of the original travelers of the highway through this part of Pennsylvania would have passed right by there in their Model Ts and other vehicles.”

Among LHHC projects since its inception, Koker cited:

• Creation of a Lincoln Highway Driving Guide

• Purchase of the historic Johnston House on Route 30 in Unity for a permanent Lincoln Highway Experience Museum, now with an addition housing the Serro’s diner, a 1920s tourist cabin and a 1937 Packard car.

• Creation of a 200-mile Roadside Museum exhibit along the corridor, including 12 murals, 65 interpretive exhibits, four Picture Yourself photo opportunity exhibits, a Lincoln Highway Pump Parade, Lincoln Highway Road Signs along the corridor from Irwin in Westmoreland County to Abbottstown in Adams County, indicating the original route

• Relocation and restoration of the circa-1927 Coffee Pot luncheonette in Bedford, now on the National Register of Historic Places, saving it from demolition

• Creation of “Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway” sculptures

• Nearly $2 million in mini-grants (with funds originating from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) to nonprofit organizations and municipalities along the corridor

• Recording and transcribing 31 oral histories from corridor residents.

A ticket to the Roaring 20s gala is $90. Attendees are encouraged to wear semi-formal dress or their best 1920s-inspired garb.

For information and reservations, call 724-879-4241 or visit lhhc.org.